Fendt Cardano

German chainless bicycle from 80s.

"Peter Fendt and Klaus Hofgärtner met at the Technical University of Munich. Next two years they developed the ideas of possible improvements of bicycle construction. On 22.12.1980 they founded in Munich the Fendt & Hofgärtner GmbH (FEHO) to produce the chainless bicycle. Klaus Hofgärtner was responsible for technical issues, Fendt for management. Their first bicycle, FEHO STS, was presented on 12.8.1981. In the meantime the company's headquarters were moved to Marktoberdorf. Company's owners patented their Kardan drive solution, and discovered the idea wasn't new: similar idea was aspiring for a patent nearly a hunderd years earlier. The first series of bicycles didn't sell well, because of quality problems. After debates Peter Fendt took over sole management of the company. Together with the former motorcycle racer Preisinger from Marktoberdorf and the engineer Muck from Kempten, the main technical problems have been solved. In September 1982, the new model FENDT Cardano Comfort could be presented. From March 1983 this bike was manufactured by Patria." (based on article fromwww.fahrradsammler.de)